Indiana Public Media News

Voter Turnout in Indiana Predicted To Be Lower Than 2008

Posted November 5, 2012

Early voting in this year's general election is well below 2008 numbers.

Photo: WFIU/WTIU

Hoosiers line up to vote early in Bloomington during the 2008 election. Early voting in 2012 is not expected to hit 2008 numbers.

Voter turnout in Indiana has gone up in three consecutive presidential election years, including 2008’s record high. Indiana’s Secretary of State says she is hoping for another record this year, but political watchers say that is unlikely.

Secretary of State Connie Lawson says early voting has been strong so far, but she says early voting this year is a little off from the last presidential election.

“Compared to this time in the election process in 2008, we’re about 85 thousand ballots behind what we were in 2008,” Lawson says.

Political analyst Ed Feigenbaum says the Obama campaign in 2008 conducted what he calls unprecedented Get Out the Vote efforts, something he has not seen from any candidate this election cycle.

“You’re certainly not going to have the same kind of effort in terms of dragging people out and that means some of the less committed people are going to be left by the wayside,” Feigenbaum says.

Feigenbaum says turnout will almost certainly be lower than it was four years ago.

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